Nickelback plan for Thanksgiving in Detroit

Nickelback responds to NFL Petition from Nickelback

Missing the Big 4 at Yankee Stadium Sucks!10 Experiences that Help Ease My Pain...

I'm devastated to be missing the Big 4 at Yankee Stadium today. But to be perfectly honest, only because I'm missing Anthrax.

I've been a die-hard New York Yankees fan for as long as I can remember, and Anthrax are my favorite metal band. No disrespect to Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica, but I saw them all at the Southern California Big 4 - their Bronx experience will likely be the same.

But missing out on the opportunity to stand on the same Yankee Stadium infield as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriquez, Robinson Cano and Mark Texiera and revel in the performance of a band that I'm blessed to call friends? A band that are excited beyond words to play on the hallowed ground of a team they love as much as I do, and in the city they call home? That's the type of once in a lifetime opportunity I'm fairly certain I'll never have a chance to experience again.

Which got me to thinking: while I am missing out on this epic afternoon, I have had my share of chances to experience pop-culture history firsthand - here are ten of my favorites...

10. Yankees vs Braves, Game 4 of 1996 World Series
Since we're talking Yankee Stadium, I'll start with the Yankees, who played the Braves in the 1996 World Series. My Bronx Bombers lost the first two games of the series at home, then won Game 3 in Atlanta. I was in Atlanta and had tickets to Game 4, and it was ugly, New York trailing 6-0 after five innings. They had narrowed the margin to 6-3 when Jim Leyritz came to bat in the eighth inning facing Braves closer Mark Wohlers with two runners on - he took him deep, hitting a three-run homer to tie the game. The Yankees would go on to win 8-6 in extra innings, and win the Series in six. One of the most memorable long-balls in Yankee history, and I was there!

9. Lions vs Packers, 1994 NFC Wildcard game
Staying on the sports tip, I had a field pass for the 1994 NFC Wildcard game, where the Green Bay Packers hosted the Detroit Lions in the first found of the NFL playoffs on December 31, 1994. I worked for the Associated Press and was assigned to pre-game coverage in the parking lot - no small feat at Lambeau Field, one of the world's most sacred stadiums and host to some of greatest fans in sports. I needed to file my story and notes when the game started, which took most of the first half - I spent the rest of the game standing on the Green Bay sideline watching the Packers defense dominate the Lions, holding Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders to -1 yard, and the entire Detroit offense to -4 yards on the ground. Brett Favre ran out the clock by scrambling into his own end zone and giving up an intentional safety to seal the 16-12 Packers victory.

8. Anthrax, House of Blues Anaheim (October 27, 2004)
What was so special about this show? I'll tell you... Frank Bello had briefly left the band, and this tour featured Armored Saint's Joey Vera on bass for Anthrax. But here's where things get crazy - Frank joined Helmet, who also had a show in Anaheim, CA, this night. Helmet's show ended in time for Frank to attend the Anthrax show, and I sat in the front row of the balcony and watched Anthrax - sitting next to Frank Bello. How freaking surreal is that for a piece of Anthrax history that only about a half-dozen of us can share?

7. 2011 Sunset Strip Music Festival
I recently wrote a detailed review of this slice of history, which you can read here. In a nutshell? I experienced The Doors on Friday night at the legendary Whisky A Go Go, then saw Motley Crue headline the third annual street festival Saturday night, literally performing on the Sunset Strip. Two bands that made the Sunset Strip famous, back-to-back. It never happened before, and will likely never happen again.

6. VH1 Behind the Music - Megadeth
I'm no stranger to VH1, but there are a few appearances that stand out for me, including being a featured guest on The List and providing commentary for the Behind The Music on The Cult. But the appearance I'm most proud of? Being featured in the Megadeth Behind the Music. The band is in a dead heat with Anthrax as my favorite metal band, and this was an honor I will forever cherish. We did the interviews at the video shoot for "Motopsycho," and Dave Mustaine was apparently pretty nervous about what I'd say - I'd been a bit too honest about my feelings regarding the Risk album in Metal Edge, and he was worried those sentiments might roll over to the documentary. I'll never forget him coming up to me after reviewing the footage and thanking me for my support and friendship. He remains my favorite personality in metal, bar none.

5. Contributing to David Lee Roth's autobiography
From my favorite personality in metal, to my favorite personality in music - Diamond Dave! I reviewed his Crazy From The Heat autobiography for Metal Edge when it came out in 1998, and apparently Dave took a liking to what I wrote. I was sitting at my desk one morning (not early morning, trust me), and the phone rang - it was Eddie Anderson, David Lee Roth's right hand man. He said that David Lee Roth had a favor to ask (I still can't wrap my head around that, but those were his words!) - the man has been my muse for as long as I've known how to write a sentence, and he wanted to know if he could use part of my book review as the back cover of his softcover release. Ready for the kicker? Eddie proceeded to explain that Dave was not a fan of Metal Edge's history, but he was a fan of mine - would I mind if he just attributed the quote to me, and didn't acknowledge the magazine at all... I've had the pleasure of hanging with Dave many, many times - he even introduced me to John F. Kennedy Jr. - and as great as those memories are, nothing will top the honor of being immortalized on the back cover of his book.

4. Working with the original lineup of KISS
I grew up on KISS, and Alive II was the first record I ever bought. I'll never forget walking out of Caldors with the album... Who knew that someday I'd make KISStory? To the best of my knowledge, there's not another person on this planet that has interviewed all four original members of KISS, done a band photo shoot with all four original members, and photographed an entire live show featuring all four original members. I can literally write a book of my KISS experiences, and have the photos to document them all - who knows, maybe someday. An honor and a privilege that I don't take for granted.

3. Ozzy Osbourne plays me Under Cover
I've had countless bands play me their new music before it's been released (or even completed, for that matter), but never quite like this... I was invited to the Osbourne house to interview Ozzy in summer 2005, and when we were done with the interview he asked me if I wanted to hear some of the songs he mentioned while we were talking - uhm, hell yeah! Ozzy leads me into his study and proceeds to play me selections from the Under Cover album on his stereo, with stories and explanations of each. I had tears in my eyes as he played me John Lennon's "Woman" after explaining how he recorded it for Sharon... Yeah, I wiped tears from eyes in front of Ozzy - what's more metal than that? Ozzy fucking rules. Period.

2. Paul McCartney & Roger Waters at Coachella
These shows were the perfect storms. I was raised on oldies, not the Beatles, so I discovered the Fab Four late in life - but when I fell, I fell hard and fast (I swear I appreciate them more as a result). A friend asked me to see McCartney at the Staples Center with him several years ago, and I was an instant convert. The Beatles are my wife's favorite band, and I absorbed the inner depths of their catalog like a sponge. Being able to see McCartney headline Coachella in 2009 with my wife and some of our closest friends was a celebration I'll never forget and one of the greatest concert experiences of my life. Roger Waters headlined Coachella on his Dark Side of the Moon tour the following year, and that was a much more personal experience for me - Pink Floyd are one of my favorite bands of all-time, and the set was an epiphany. Practically a religious experience...

1. Pope Benedict XVI leading mass at the Vatican
Yes, I realize I just called Roger Waters a religious experience - but music means that much to me. My wife and I went to Italy for our honeymoon and our time in Rome coincided with a mass Pope Benedict was celebrating at St. Peter's Basilica on October 9, 2008, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Pope Pius XII's death. We didn't expect to be able to attend, but we wanted to try... We found ourselves in a Vatican line that we assumed was for sightseeing, and when we passed through security and got to the front they told us we couldn't go further unless we were attending the mass. We said we were - and it was really that simple! It was literally a religious experience - Pope Benedict passed within a few feet of us, and people reacted as you'd expect, but also as you could never imagine. Think of the biggest celebrity in the world - this was a hundred times that. This topped anything I've ever experienced in music.

RANDY "MACHO MAN" SAVAGE(November 15, 1952 - May 20, 2011)

Growing up, I can't remember not loving professional wrestling. It wasn't on every night of the week, there weren't monthly pay per views that cost more to watch than you'd make working two days at a part-time job, and it still embraced subtleties and nuances, rather than bombastic pomp and over-the-top circumstances.

Randy "Macho Man" Savage was instrumental in changing that.

My parents probably don't know this, but it was my grandmother who really got me into professional wrestling. She was Polish (the only of my four grandparents that wasn't Italian), and she loved Ivan "The Polish Hammer" Putski. As legend has it, she broke the arm off a chair watching him wrestle one time - because that's what wrestling meant in the '70s.

If you were Italian, Bruno Sammartino was to wrestling what Joe Dimaggio was to baseball. Pedro Morales was there for Latinos, and Bob Backlund was our squeaky clean, red-white-and-blue champion who would never cheat to win, and would never fight dirty until his opponents forced his hand. [Unrelated aside: I swam competitively against his daughter, with him sitting in the stands!] The Grand Wizard, Freddie Blassie and Captain Lou Albano were diabolical managers who represented everything bad in the world, while Arnold Skaaland was their baby-faced counterpart, crusading against their conniving, back-handed ways with a work ethic that epitomized the prevailing spirit of blue collar America.

The bad guys back then were truly bad guys, and you never cheered for them. It wasn't allowed. But today, "Magnificent" Don Muraco would be the people's hero with his smug arrogance and cocky swagger, and fans would give Blackjack Mulligan an ovation to see his leather claw turn an opponent's head into a bloody cheese grater. I remember crying when Superstar Billy Graham tore Bob Backlund's championship belt in half, and I can still remember the horror, shock and seething hatred I felt when Captain Lou Albano turned on his greatest heel, pulverizing Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka with his own South Pacific headband before Ray "The Crippler" Stevens piledrived him twice into the bloodied concrete floor.

At the time, wrestling was restricted to black and white televisions with bunny ear antennas. My parents didn't want me staying up until midnight to watch, but I watched anyway. Sometimes the reception was so bad all I could do was listen. Sometimes I had to watch with the volume off so my parents couldn't hear. But I always had to watch. I used to love when my grandmother would babysit because I could stay up late and watch with her in the living room.

That was before Randy Savage.

In my mind, he and Hulk Hogan represented the end of an era and the dawn of another. The Hulkster and Macho Man brought wrestling out of black and white and into color - off of local affiliate channel 9's overnight and onto NBC prime time. It was the vision of Vince McMahon Jr, carried out on the backs and charisma of his wrestlers.

And Macho Man was the manifestation of charisma. He was Gorgeous George, Superstar Billy Graham and an '80s rock star, all rolled into one. And when he anointed Miss Elizabeth his manager, the WWF's first Diva was born. That's what I love most about the clip above - it is everything Randy "Macho Man" Savage helped wrestling become.

It is not a barrage of coconuts to the head, it is three minutes of theater building to the Honky Tonk Man's guitar pop. Professional wrestling went from carnival attraction to three ring circus. From gray and grainy to neon technicolor. From Cold War simplicity to turn-of-the-millennium complexity. From sport to entertainment.

In my lifetime, professional wrestling has been a mirror of American culture - and today, with the passing of Randy "Macho Man" Savage, that mirror sustained a horrible crack.

Rest in peace, Randy...

Every time Michael Vick gets hit,an angel dog earns its wings...

I believe that Michael Vick deserves a second chance in life, I just don't believe that he deserves a second chance to play in the National Football League.

He facilitated and expedited the rape of dogs, where females were bound to poles so that they could be forcefully and violently impregnated. The puppies were then raised and trained to be fighters and killers, neglected to sharpen their survival instincts, and tortured to instill a horrifying sense of fear and tolerance of pain.

Then the dogs were pitted against each other for Michael Vick and his crew's sadistic pleasure and gambling enjoyment.

If the losing dogs were lucky, they'd be killed in cold blood.

The dogs that weren't killed, were left alive to be tortured and abused more, only to fight another day.

This wasn't a momentary lapse in judgment on Michael Vick's part, and it wasn't an accident. It was premeditated, callously calculated, and carried out with painstaking attention to every heinous detail.

Over, and over, and over again.

This isn't about what Michael Vick allegedly did, this is about what he confessed to doing. There's no grey area in what may or may not have happened - it happened, and he's not denying a single bit of it.

According to a court of law, he served his legal debt to society. But what about his moral debt to society? The debt that can't be paid off by a donation to the Humane Society, or by visiting a handful of inner-city schools and trying to explain why what he did was wrong, despite the fact that he still makes excuses for his behavior.

Because, in the end, it didn't matter that what he did was wrong - when the time came to be held accountable for deciding to embrace being a thug instead of a professional athlete and role model, the Philadelphia Eagles welcomed him back with opened arms.

And when that opportunity turned into one of the most remarkable physical comebacks in the history of professional sports, Barack Obama - the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, and the man that hung his election on a mantra of hope - called the Eagles' owner to commend the team for giving Michael Vick a second chance.

Because everybody deserves a second chance.

Bullshit.

Michael Vick has been coddled since the day his opportunistic handlers realized he was a goldmine of athletic potential.

Money. Gifts. Attention. Excuses.

All in abundance. All without accountability.

He received a scholarship to Virginia Tech, and every opportunity in the world to advance his lot in life. To improve the world of those around him. And to be an example for others to emulate.

Instead, he chose to remain a thug. A thug who could tuck a football under his arm and run - a thug with carte blanche to take his miscreant ways off the street, and behind closed doors.

Should Michael Vick get a second chance? Of course he should - in life. Not in the National Football League.

America is a country in crisis, and our youth need role models to emulate, not a path of excuses defined by moral cop-outs.

Michael Vick was given every opportunity to rise above the culture he claims dictated his behavior and handling of dogs. Yet he chose to defy those opportunities, and mock the establishment that presented him with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to cash in a golden ticket.

Let his second chance at success be outside the National Football League. Let him use the college education that he got for free... What? He didn't graduate? Maybe he should have thought of that before he entered the NFL following his sophomore year of college.

He strapped his entire future to a professional sport that, even in failure, could make him enough money to last a lifetime. Yet he respected that sport so little that he needed to raise, train, torture and kill dogs for personal fulfillment.

It doesn't matter how many schools he speaks to, the real message to those students is loud and clear - you can make a grave, calculated, callous and criminal mistake so heinous that the end result would make anyone with a conscience's stomach curdle, and as long as you can blame your upbringing, even the President of the United States will have your back.

America needs to stop making excuses, and America needs to stop accepting excuses.

America needs to stand for something, or we'll fall for anything.

And right now, we're falling hard.

I've boycotted the Philadelphia Eagles all season long, refusing to watch or support any team that would give an opportunity to a man that epitomizes everything I think is wrong with America today.

I have also boycotted Nike since they announced that they would again endorse Michael Vick. If Nike choose to make him a face of their company, Nike are making a bold statement that they don't want me buying their clothing.

I am breaking my Philadelphia Eagles boycott to watch my Green Bay Packers make the trip to the City of Brotherly Thugs for the opening round of the playoffs.

Not because I want to watch Michael Vick, but because I want to watch the Green Bay Packers - a team I grew to love as a college student in Milwaukee, where they played half their home games. And a team I learned to love even more when I covered them for the Associated Press in the mid-'90s.

Make no mistake, the game is about more than football for me - it is a battle for control of America's moral compass. A compass that may be cracked, but a compass that can still be repaired.

I am not, and will not, end my boycott of Nike.

We need to stand for something, or we'll fall for anything.

And America needs to stop falling.

First Brett Favre, now the Metrodome...

If this doesn't sum up the Minnesota Vikings season, nothing will!

Goodbye, George Steinbrenner... Goodbye, Excellence

I just got off the phone with a friend in New York, and he was complaining about the George Steinbrenner media saturation in the wake of the Yankees owner's death Monday morning. "They're deifying the guy," he told me. "Enough already!"

Not enough, I say.

I'm not advocating the deification of entertainers in the least bit, but at a time when LeBron James can turn the shunning of his hometown into a prime-time, worldwide spectacle, Tiger Woods can act indignant and cavalier about sinking his putz into more strippers than golf holes, and Michael Vick can torture and kill dogs in cold blood and still be rewarded a multi-million dollar NFL contract, can we really over-saturate the passing of a man who celebrated excellence in a world that can't spell the word?

Cynics say George Steinbrenner did little more than ruin baseball with his exorbitant spending, brash firings and ostentatious demeanor, but they live in a world where ignorance is bliss, Miller High Life is truly the "champagne of beers," and everything is black or white.

But we live in a grey world, and not only did George Steinbrenner give it color, he did it with zest, elevating accountability to a pedestal while others just embraced excuses.

George Steinbrenner had pride, and he transformed it into a legacy of Yankee Pride.

Sports is entertainment, and George Steinbrenner understood that reality better than anyone. He knew fans were paying their hard-earned cash to watch his product, and he believed in giving them nothing less than the best product his money could buy. But Steinbrenner didn't stop at paying top dollar for stars like Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield and Alex Rodriguez - he expected nothing short of top-dollar performances, as well as top-dollar images.

If you wanted to play with a raggedy beard or scraggy hair, go play ball in bohemian Boston. In a day-and-age where mediocrity has not only become the norm, it is also rewarded, George Steinbrenner represented the last bastion of capitalism at its finest - he rewarded premium players with premium contracts, and accepted nothing less than premium results.

And if he didn't get them, he wasn't afraid to be vocal.

Working as a Sr. Editor at one of the largest internet companies in the world, I had to hire a new Editor to join my team. When our human resources representative handed me a stack of a dozen resumes and started to walk away, I told her to stick around - and in less than a minute, handed her my three choices. "What?" she asked me, a confused look on her face. "Those are the people I'm interested in talking to," I said nonchalantly. "Those are all good resumes, and you never even looked at them," she countered, pointing to the stack of paper I still held. "I don't have to," I told her, "they're applying for a job as an Editor, and they have typos in their cover letters than an eighth grader could catch - I'm not interested." "You're not being realistic," she said, "you need to lower your expectations."

George Steinbrenner never lowered his expectations, and he helped teach me that I shouldn't need to lower mine.

In the 37 years he owned the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner's team won seven World Series trophies and 11 American League pennants. They were one of the Top 5 winning teams in the American League every year since 1993, and in the Top 3 all but two of those years. In his four decades as owner, the team only finished in the bottom half of the American League standings seven times - one was the year he bought the team, and five were the rebuilding years, from 1988-92.

The passing of George Steinbrenner is more than the passing of an iconic figure in sports, it is yet another nail in the coffins of excellence, pride and accountability in a nation that rewards people for doing barely enough to get by.

George Steinbrenner has died. Mediocrity is alive and well.

Rest in peace, Boss - you'll be missed.

Thank you.

The Last Week In Tweets

Selections from my last week on Twitter. Among items not included in the recap are the bacon kid's dance remix, a McDonalds value meal that you won't find on the menu, and week two of the NFL... Want to join the fun? Feel free to Twit along with me @PaulGargano.




Jackasses of the week:
Kanye West & Terry Moran





• Let's lock Kanye West and Michael Vick in a steel cage and make them fight to the death... Then kill the winner.
(2:10 AM Sep 14th from web)

• I am not offended by bold statements. I am offended that bold statements need be toned down for people who can't think boldy.
(7:08 AM Sep 14th from web, in response to a Facebook debate
over the literal translation of the above statement)

• Word of the day: Churlish. I encourage everyone to use it in a sentence today (for example, to describe Kanye West)...
(7:45 AM Sep 14th from web)

• Kanye strikes again, but this time it's personal: http://tinyurl.com/rc48sw (thanks to @AdamsWorldBlog for pointing it out)
(3:13 PM Sep 16th from web)

• Terry Moran Twittering President Obama's off-the-record calling of Kanye a "jackass" is completely unacceptable.
(8:45 AM Sep 15th from web)

• "Credible" journalism needs to start with the audience: Demand integrity, and stop supporting the tactics of TMZ and Perez.
(8:48 AM Sep 15th from web)




This week's TV theme?
Boobs on the tube...




• New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills are rocking the old-school uniforms tonight on Monday Night Football, I love it!
(3:51 PM Sep 14th from web)

• True Blood finale was a letdown. I felt distant from characters during season two, and wasn't left aching for season three.
(1:39 AM Sep 15th from web)

• Why are most of the guys on Survivor: Somoa wearing only underwear? Except for Russell, he's wearing underwear and a hat.
(10:03 PM Sep 17th from TwitterBerry)

• I probably shouldn't be eating brownies and ice cream and drinking wine while watching The Biggest Loser, right?
(10:20 PM Sep 17th from TwitterBerry)

• Hung season finale could have been better - Too much setup, not enough laughs. Great show though, can't wait for season two!
(10:34 PM Sep 18th from TwitterBerry)

• Gross! RT @AdamsWorldBlog Why not combine the two? RT @PaulGargano My wife wants to watch Golden Girls instead of Lingerie Football League.
(10:50 PM Sep 18th from TwitterBerry)

• Watching season premier of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" -
Shouldn't it be called "Curb Yo Enthusiasm"?
(10:42 PM Sep 20th from TwitterBerry)




RIP Patrick Swayze




• "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." Patrick Swayze dies after long battle with pancreatic cancer. RIP http://tinyurl.com/l2vb9d
(5:09 PM Sep 14th from web)

• Dance, dance dirty, play hockey, move a penny without touching it, rob banks, surf, bounce at bars #ThingsPatrickSwayzeDid
(12:42 AM Sep 20th from TwitterBerry)

• I knew I forgot something: Wong Fu! RT @maidenman664 Don't forget dressing like a woman too #ThingsPatrickSwayzeDid
(12:59 AM Sep 20th from web)









• Megadeth "Endgame" (released today) is AMAZING.
Dave Mustaine is razor sharp and guitarist Chris Broderick shreds.
Best lineup since '98.
(3:33 PM Sep 15th from web)

• If Metallica's 12th studio album is half as good as Megadeth's "Endgame" (their 12th), I'll eat my copy of "Re-Load."
(5:59 PM Sep 18th from web)

• Megadeth has 12 studio albums, and only 4 were recorded with same band! "Peace" "So What" & "Rust" = all different lineups!
(5:21 PM Sep 19th from web)




• President Jimmy Carter blames "You lie!" on racism... Can we blame Carter's statement on senility? http://tinyurl.com/qov6k4
(11:05 AM Sep 16th from web)




• Read article on new lava planet (http://tinyurl.com/otguyb) and started wondering how matter began.
Now I have a headache.
(11:30 AM Sep 16th from web)




• KITTIE "In The Black"
came out yesterday.
Best album yet from queens of metal, a churning blend of melodic, prog and death.
(4:29 PM Sep 16th from web)







The Metal Edge Years...






• It depends, there are many... As a fan? Journalist? Fun? RT @bigmillion of all your yrs @ Metal Edge, what's yer fav memory?
(11:43 AM Sep 19th from web)

• Fun: Seeing @SebastianBach on B'way w/ @IAmJericho, Adrian Smith & sig others RT @bigmillion what's yer fav Metal Edge mems?
(2:27 PM Sep 19th from web)

• Fan: Flying in twin-engine w/ Bruce Dickinson, friendship with Queensryce... RT @bigmillion what's yer fav Metal Edge mems?
(2:30 PM Sep 19th from web)

• Journalist: 9/11 tribute issue, Dimebag tribute, Megadeth Behind the Music... RT @bigmillion what's yer fav Metal Edge mems?
(2:33 PM Sep 19th from web)

• So many more, including KISS, Ozzy, Drowning Pool, @ZakkWyldeBLS, Poison...
RT @bigmillion what's yer fav Metal Edge mems?
(2:43 PM Sep 19th from web)

• Forgot HUGE one: Writing back cov of David Lee Roth's autobiog. DLR is my muse. RT @bigmillion what's yer fav Metal Edge mems?
(3:04 PM Sep 19th from web)




Want to be a music writer?





• Never stop writing, never stop growing, and never forget why you love music... RT @bigmillion advice to get in music media biz?
(3:14 PM Sep 19th from web)

• Blogs are the new magazines, start your own! Be unique, be yourself, make it an extension of you... (re @bigmillion advice?)
(3:22 PM Sep 19th from web)

• Writers 3 worst enemies: Complacency, bad grammar and not editing your work. Respect your audience! (re @bigmillion advice?)
(3:28 PM Sep 19th from web)












• I'm in checkout line behind a blind person - It's amazing the things we take for granted... Like being able to see and hear.
(6:47 PM Sep 19th from TwitterBerry)

• After watching the blind guy, I'm not going to get angry about the fact that after 15 min in line, I left my wallet at home.
(6:50 PM Sep 19th from TwitterBerry)

Follow Paul Gargano on Twitter: @PaulGargano

The Last Week In Tweets

Selections from my last week in the world of Twitter. Not included in these festivities are the kid who loves bacon, protecting your chicken from Dokken, and a lot of back-and-forth about vampires... Want to join the fun? Feel free to Twit along with me @PaulGargano.



• You think? That white
album idea seems dicey.
RT @BielerBros68 I think this Beatles thing might just catch on, not sure...
(9:34 AM Sep 9th from web)





President Obama's Congressional speech
on health care reform:




• "Build on what works and fix what doesn't"
-President Obama on Health Care Reform
(5:31 PM Sep 9th from web)

• We interrupt the President for this breaking news: RT @THR
Ellen DeGeneres joins 'Idol' as fourth judge http://bit.ly/bL4bL
(5:35 PM Sep 9th from web)

• "To my Progressive friends... And to my Republican friends..."
Did I miss the memo that all Democrats are now "Progressive"?
(5:45 PM Sep 9th from web)

• Why am I cynical? Because politics are just like grade school: Everybody claps when someone else gets bullied or picked on.
(5:55 PM Sep 9th from web)

• Ellen is new 'American Idol' judge after Rosie, Pat Buchanan,
Tracii Guns and the Indian from the Village People declined...
(12:18 AM Sep 10th from web)





Remembering 9/11:





• Remember how you felt on September 11, 2001? Never forget... #WTC RT @sportsguy33 My 9/14/01 column: http://bit.ly/xoZvo
(10:05 AM Sep 11th from web)

• Nobody who died on 9/11 got a second chance. Freedom is a privilege, not a right. Respect it. http://tinyurl.com/l2xzfv #WTC
(10:06 AM Sep 11th from web)

• RT @realbrookewhite 9/11 reminds me to keep perspective...
it prompted us to be better people,more grateful & respectful...
lets not forget
(10:41 AM Sep 11th from web)





Season premier of the
Melrose Place remake:




• The new Melrose Place is the worst show EVER...
And I can't stop watching.
(10:35 PM Sep 11th from TwitterBerry)

• Melrose Place just gets worse and worse, but the force field protecting the remote from me just gets stronger and stronger.
(10:42 PM Sep 11th from TwitterBerry)

• New strategy: Fast forward through Melrose Place and watch the commercials... I like the new Kohls campaign, good writing.
(10:49 PM Sep 11th from TwitterBerry)

• Warning: Don't move to Melrose Place, because everybody there is shady and can't be trusted. People tend to die there, too.
(11:10 PM Sep 11th from TwitterBerry)













• Just got my special edition @ZakkWyldeBLS Cabbage Patch Kid. Smells kinda funky, but it's fun to cuddle with...
(3:08 PM Sep 12th from web)

• Just messing around... RT @nikkinana so is there really a Zakk Wylde cabbage patch doll or were you just messing with us?
(8:01 PM Sep 12th from TwitterBerry)




• The US takes the concert experience for granted. Want proof? Watch the South American scenes in "Flight 666"
- Goosebumps.
(7:44 PM Sep 12th from TwitterBerry)









The vampire phenomenon:





• Finally all caught up with True Blood in time for Sunday's finale...
It was all believable until they made the vampires fly.
(12:38 AM Sep 12th from TwitterBerry)

• Do the "Vampire Diaries" writers think nobody else saw "The Crow"? Not only are some lines the same, there's also a crow...
(11:37 PM Sep 12th from TwitterBerry)

• Pop-culture vampire question: With all the women there are to prey on, why do they need to always fight over the same one?
(11:47 PM Sep 12th from TwitterBerry)





Opening weekend
of the NFL season:




• @TheRealTMR @EricStangel And what's the lesson that Vick, Burress, Stallworth, McNair, and Marshall are sending the kids?
(12:10 PM Sep 12th from TwitterBerry) in response to:
Brett Favre named captain. A lesson 4 you kids, You can show up late and still be rewarded over those who put their time in
(by @EricStangel, 11:00 AM Sep 12th from web )

• Close your eyes: Harry Connick Jr sounds just like Frank Sinatra. Now open your eyes... He looks like Morton Downey Jr...
(5:39 PM Sep 10th from web, during NBC pre-game kickoff)

• Al Michaels during Titans defense intros: "We'll start putting up sub-titles next week." WOW! (Cue up Rev Al Sharpton...)
(5:53 PM Sep 10th from web)

• Already sick of hearing "noise, intensity, nerves" a factor for @Mark_Sanchez this year - USC is akin to an NFL franchise!
(10:46 AM Sep 13th from TwitterBerry)

• Everytime Favre gets sacked, it'll be because he missed training camp? Please... When he made training camp, he threw INTs!
(11:32 AM Sep 13th from TwitterBerry)

• Donovan McNabb has a broken rib? Defenses are warming up for Michael Vick. I can't wait for justice to be served NFL style.
(2:39 PM Sep 13th from TwitterBerry)

• Frank Gore was so open on that 49ers touchdown, they should change his number to 7-11. Way to blow the coverage, Cardinals.
(4:13 PM Sep 13th from TwitterBerry)

Follow Paul Gargano on Twitter: @PaulGargano

BRETT'S BACK......To Rape, Pillage and Plunder (the Packers)

To hear the pundits talk about Brett Favre, you'd think he shot himself in the foot with a gun in a nightclub... Or killed a pedestrian while driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol... Or was murdered by a girl young enough to be his daughter, who he was cheating on his wife with as he lead a double life... Or tested his entrepreneurial skills by funding a dog-fighting ring, then demonstrated his hands-on leadership abilities by not only breeding the pitbulls, but also raising them to fight, and torturing and killing the losing pups.

No, Brett Favre is clearly the NFL athlete most deserving of a media outcry, because he not only changed his mind, but he did it more than once.

Why are jails overcrowded? It's all those damn wafflers, I tell ya!

I admit it, I'm a Brett Favre apologist. I have a shelf full of Favre memorabilia in my office. I was one of his first interviews when he renewed his contract with the Green Bay Packers in 1994 and I worked for the Associated Press. And I was standing on a frozen Lambeau Field sideline when he led the Packers to a 16-12 first round playoff victory over the Detroit Lions on Dec. 31 of that same year.

My dad had Joe DiMaggio. I had Brett Favre. My dad will never get to see Joe D play again, so forgive me for reveling in the fact that I can now say that I "have" Brett Favre for at least one more season.

Is it really that bad that he changed his mind about retirement... Again?

Apparently it is, which leaves me a bit perplexed.

Michael Vick funded a dog-fighting operation where he raised, trained, fought and killed helpless dogs. This isn't a tax issue, where he can blame his accountant or business manager. This isn't even a DUI, where he can say he wasn't aware of what he was doing when it happened. This was a calculated and callous act that he did repeatedly, and without remorse.

It was an act that made it pointedly clear that Michael Vick didn't respect the NFL, or his role as one of the game's biggest superstars. If he did, he probably would have thought twice about moonlighting as a thug.

Yet the NFL welcomed him back with open arms and a laughable two-game suspension, saying that he has served his debt to society and deserves a second chance.

I say he lost his right to a second chance in the NFL when he decided that his place as role model and public icon was less important than the sick satisfaction he got by engaging in social activities previously relegated to gang-bangers and miscreants.

That doesn't mean Michael Vick doesn't deserve a second chance in life, it just means that he already made it pretty clear how little the NFL meant to him. To his credit, he did it with the same flair he exhibits on the field, spitting in the face of any morally grounded and warm-blooded football fan in the process.

Michael Vick has already proven that he can't handle life in the limelight, so why can't his second chance come in the real world? Remember that education he got from Virginia Tech? Why can't his second chance come on the shoulders of that, rather than in the game of football that he's already disgraced?

But I digress from the issue at hand... Brett Favre's the bad guy!

Damn Brett Favre, for playing football with the same zest and enthusiasm now, that he did 15 years ago. Damn him for playing the game with a smile on his face, and a vibrancy that shames guys half his age. And most of all, damn him for feeling scorned by the team he spent his entire Hall of Fame career with, and choosing to exact his revenge on the football field, rather than doing something illegal, shameful, and potentially hazardous to the world we all share.

Damn Brett Favre and his simplistic, down-home view of the world. Why can't he learn something from Plaxico Burress, Donte Stallworth, Steve McNair or Michael Vick? These guys are the NFL's real role models. These are the guys that embody the true spirit of professional sports, and the competitive spark we hope to ignite in today's youth.

Is decisiveness too much to ask for? We don't care what you decide to do, just stick to your guns and do it! Own your decision! Know that whatever you do, we'll be there to support you... Even if it might cost someone their life.

As long as you don't change your mind.

And if you do change your mind? You run the risk of being no better than Brett Favre - an embarrassment to the game of football, and a mockery to the NFL, where the NBA and Vince McMahon have apparently become the new moral compass.

Three Angels Get Their Wings

The celebrity of Los Angeles Angels pitcher and top prospect Nick Adenhart makes his death no more tragic than that of the other two people killed after their car was struck by a drunk driver in southern California early this morning, but it does bring the grievous events of late last night into a glaring media spotlight.

We can only pray that lives can be saved as a result.

Most of us, at one time or another, have gotten behind the wheel of a car when we probably shouldn't have. How many more tragedies will it take to make sure we don't ever do it again?

In this case, not only have authorities reported that the driver of the vehicle that ran a red light and broadsided the car driven by 20-year-old college student Courtney Stewart was legally drunk, but they have also confirmed that he was driving without a license, as his had been suspended after a prior DUI conviction. Adding insult to injury, he fled the scene of the accident on foot, only to be apprehended by police a short time later.

Stewart, Adenhart, and fellow passenger Henry Pearson have died because of the irresponsibility of one person who believed he was above the law, and the lives of countless family, friends, classmates and coworkers have been shattered in the process.

This isn't baseball, and the accused shouldn't get a chance at a third strike. Three people are dead - and the fourth passenger in Stewart's car is critically injured - because of one man's selfish and blatant disregard for human life.

He should be treated no differently than he would be had he fired a loaded gun into a crowded room, because the outcome was exactly the same. The accident may not have been premeditated, but getting behind the wheel of a car drunk and without a driver's license was, and that is where this tragedy was set into motion.

From there, it took only one unthinkable moment for the lives of Nick Adenhart, Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson to be lost forever.

Three Cheers for A-Rod...

Hip-hip, ster-oids!
Hip-hip, ster-oids!
Hip-hip, ster-oids!

With the year Alex Rodriquez is having, you could almost feel sorry for the guy... Almost. Regardless of how much time he spends on the disabled list due to the torn labrum in his right hip, he's still going to collect $32 million and be baseball's highest paid player in 2009.

Nice work, if you can get it.

Here's a thought for Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig: Since Rodriquez may have a lot of time on his hands over the next few months, how about being proactive and sending him a list of banned "healing supplements" now, so a year from now we won't have to hear "I'm guilty for a lot of things. I'm guilty for being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions. And to be quite honest, I don't know exactly what substance I was guilty of using" all over again.

One thing A-Rod definitely wasn't "negligent, naive," and guilty of "not asking all the right questions" about? The 10-year contract he signed with the New York Yankees last season, in which he's owed $275 million dollars, total, through the 2017 season.

At least we know how he got injured... He was trying to stuff his wallet into his back pocket.

Is Manny Smelling Green and Seeing Blue?

One of two things is about to happen to Los Angeles baseball: Manny Ramirez will sign with the Dodgers, or the Angels will get a rapid boost in their quest to coax L.A. fans south to Anaheim.

For the Dodgers to be taken seriously if they don't resign Manny Ramirez, one of the most dominating hitters in all of baseball and the heart of the blue batting order for the final two months of last season, they would have to replace his loss to their lineup

And now they can't.

With the signings of Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn late this week, Ramirez becomes the only marquee hitter remaining on the free agent market.

Neither Abreu or Dunn are in the class of Ramirez, but both could have filled the hole in the Dodger batting order. Despite his low batting average, Dunn would have been the better fit, filling the need for a power threat in the heart of the lineup.

Hitting at least 40 home runs in each of his last five seasons, Dunn would have provided some much-needed force in a lineup that, while well-rounded, only features three serious threats to hit even half as many long balls (Matt Kemp, Casey Blake and Andre Ethier).

Dunn's drawback is his average. A lifetime .247 hitter with a propensity for strikeouts, he signed a two year, $20 million contract with the Washington Nationals Wednesday.

Abreu can't match Dunn's power, but he is one of the most rounded hitters in the game, a lifetime .300 hitter who has scored at least 98 runs in 10 consecutive seasons, tallied at least 100 RBI in seven of his last eight seasons, hit 20 home runs in eight of his last ten, and stolen at least 22 bases a season for the past decade.

Turning 35 on March 11, Abreu joins Barry Bonds and Rickey Henderson as the only players in history to hit 200 home runs and steal 300 bases with a lifetime on-base-percentage of at least .400. He signed a one year, $5 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels Thursday, including bonus incentives that could push the contract beyond $6 million.

Ramirez hit .396 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI in 187 AB after coming to the Dodgers in a deadline deal with Boston and Pittsburgh August 1. To put his impact in perspective, only Blake (21), Ethier (20) and Kemp (18) hit that many homers for manager Joe Torre's Los Angeles team all last season.

One of the games elite talents, Ramirez is a .314 lifetime hitter who has averaged 99 runs, 36 HR and 118 RBI over the last 14 seasons. His age (he will be 37 when the season starts) and motivation are heavy concerns, which is why he remains a free agent this late in the off-season.

Seeking a contract that would keep him under wraps until he turns 40, Ramirez and uber-agent Scott Boras are looking for a four year deal in the neighborhood of $100 million. So far, the Dodgers have come to the table with a two-year, $45 million deal, and a one-year, $25 million offer.

With Spring Training already underway and no free agent options remaining, the negotiations have tilted in the slugger's favor. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti has commented that the trade market would be an in-season option and, yes, trimming salary has its advantages in today's economy, but neither of those would mean much to fans heading into the 2009 season.

In addition to a lethal bat, the acquisition of Manny Ramirez also brought a high-profile Latin superstar to a city whose blue collar population was hungry for a baseball hero. His presence electrified Dodger Stadium, and with the Southern California economy crumbling, a player of his magnitude will no doubt help in selling tickets.

The only other team thought to be considering Ramirez are the Dodgers' upstate division rival San Francisco Giants, who have one of the best pitching staffs in the National League. Though their offense ranked amongst the worst in baseball last season, the addition of Ramirez would make them an immediate favorite in the NL West.

While the Dodgers might be able to contend in their weak division without the addition of Ramirez, fan excitement will no doubt be tempered by a team forced to play small ball with emerging talent and little star power.

Ramirez pending, last season's entire starting lineup is returning intact. But the same can't be said for the starting rotation.

After losing Derek Lowe, Brad Penny and Greg Maddux to free agency, the only addition was veteran Randy Wolf. The fifth starter is likely to be either Jason Schmidt, who at 36 has been nagged by injuries and pitched only 25 innings since 2006, or converted outfielder and top prospect James McDonald, who impressed in relief as as September call-up last season, but whose endurance is still a question mark.

Where does this leave the Dodgers?

Without Ramirez, their lineup lacks a spark plug and their rotation will be in constant need of run support.

Not a good place to be heading into a season with hopes of repeating as division winners for the first time since 1978.

This means a Manny-sized payday may be on the horizon.

Farewell Favre (This Time He Means It)

Brett Favre retired today.

Again.

But this time I think he means it. Last year, something just didn't seem right. Now, there seems to be a natural finality to his legend.

And I still think there's more to the story of him leaving Green Bay than we've been privy to.

I interviewed Brett Favre at Lambeau Field, when he signed his first contract extension in 1994 and I was an editor for the Associated Press. It was long before anyone could even fathom that he might become the most prolific quarterback in NFL history.

At the time, Green Bay was still stinging from the fact that Don Majkowski proved little more than an injury-plagued one-season wonder, never replicating the 'majik' of his all-star campaign in 1989.

Green Bay - both the team and the city, because you can't talk about one without talking about the other - had high hopes for Favre, but the fervor was nothing like it would be when signed his seven-year extension three years later.

He was a southern-bred bundle of unrealized potential at the time. More of a 'hope for the best' signing than a Hall of Fame franchise tag. And his laid-back Mississippi state-of-mind was a perfect fit for the limited northern exposure of the frozen tundra.

Speaking from firsthand experience, Wisconsin is hardly a media shark tank for professional athletes. If anything, it's a microcosm of Midwest simplicity. A far cry from the all-seeing eyes and ears of New York. Forgiving, and maybe even a bit forgetful, to be polite.

In New York, the media will create drama where it doesn't already exist. And if it exists? They'll turn sparks into a bonfire.

In Wisconsin, drama is having to choose between deer hunting and a family wedding.

Reading between the lines of Favre's muddied departure from Green Bay, there was some bad blood brewing between the quarterback and the franchise he had revitalized over the past decade-plus.

Brett Favre was the boy who cried wolf with retirement, but Ron Wolf wasn't there to hear him. The Packers forced Favre's hand, and he fumbled, rushing the call a year ago. Green Bay shouldn't have been too surprised, they'd lived and died by his gunslinging ways for 15 years, and he's got a track record of iffy decision-making when he's rushed in the pocket.

And like more than a few plays he'd made on the field, Favre and his schoolboy demeanor wanted to reel back his career-ending retirement bomb. But it wouldn't happen on the Packers' playground.

When a well-worn Rocky was explaining his comeback in Rocky Balboa, he said "there's still some stuff in the basement."

Was anyone really that surprised to find out that Brett Favre still had a few pump fakes left in his shoulder?

Those tears he cried at last year's press conference? Could they have been tears of confusion, hurt, sadness or betrayal? Right, wrong, indifferent or otherwise, it's unlikely Brett Favre truly wanted to end his career anywhere but Green Bay.

But Green Bay didn't want him back.

So he went to a team that did want him, because he needed one last chance to extinguish that fire that was still burning down below. It was the same fire he always felt, this time heightened by a hope to avenge his exile from title town.

If it couldn't be Green Bay, where better than Broadway?

New York never embraced Favre, they embraced the legend of Favre. They knew he was a stopgap. And to compound the issue, the players had to know in their hearts that they weren't a Super Bowl contender. The chemistry just wasn't there with the Jets. Locker room favorite Chad Pennington may have been replaced by a legend, but he wasn't a New York legend, and he never would be.

Brett Favre was a deity in Wisconsin. In New York, he'd play second fiddle to Peyton Manning's kid brother.

To add insult to injury, due south on I95, Pennington was playing with the composure that he flashed the Jets in '02.

Chad had more juice than Tropicana, and Favre was running on pulp.

What made New York the perfect swan song? The chances of a fairy tale ending were slim, the fun factor of the game would be marginalized in the media glare, and an emotional attachment wasn't likely to prolong the decision-making process.

Few fans were shocked when Brett Favre re-announced his retirement earlier today. Yes, it is the end of a legendary career, but this time the end felt right.

As for his legacy... Was Reggie White's tarnished in Carolina? Joe Montana's in Kansas City? Vince Lombardi's in Washington?

"I think if you live some place long enough, you are that place," Rocky Balboa said in his own swan song.

Brett Favre is Green Bay, and always will be. No season in New York will ever change that, nor will it tarnish his place as one of the game's all time greats.

It didn't matter if Rocky won or lost, what mattered was that Rocky did what Rocky had to do, and that when he was finished, the beast was gone from the shackles of his basement.

Brett Favre has unleashed the beast.

Next stop, Canton.

* * *
There's not a journalist I enjoy reading more than Peter King, or a football player I've enjoyed watching more than Brett Favre. When Favre was named the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1997, King wrote a piece that not only captured his eloquence as a writer, but also Favre's true character, both on and off the field. Click here to read the column.

UPDATE (02.13.09)
As an interesting follow-up to the above column, Favre did an interview with ESPN today detailing his anger towards the Packers and how they handled his departure, as well as his lack of comfort in a Jets uniform. Click here to read the article.

UPDATE (02.16.09)
Peter King offers more insight into Brett Favre's retirement in his Monday Morning Quarterback column for SI.com, the Sports Illustrated website.

A-Roid the Great

I don't know what is worse, the fact that I wasn't surprised, or the fact that I simply don't care.

Alex Rodriguez did steroids? No way! Please don't say that he cheated on his wife, too...

I tried to catch up on sleep this morning, and learned the news of A-Rod's steroid use via a forward of a CNN "Breaking News" alert from my father on my Blackberry. His entire email read, "Do I really care? If this is 'breaking news,' we're in worse shape than we think we are!" Even with that disclaimer, when I scrolled down to see what the actual news was, I admit I was a bit disappointed.

An athlete does steroids? I'm just glad rock stars don't do drugs, and that actresses and supermodels don't take pills.

Truth be told, I was actually a little happy to read the headline.

There has always been something about A-Rod that has rubbed me the wrong way. His holier than thou perception, his tabloid relationship with Madonna that neither will confirm or deny, the fifth-grade bullshit between him and Derek Jeter... It's nice to see him fall a few rungs and have that smug persona of his take a hit.

I like my athletes with a little bit of gristle, some dirt on their uniform, and a character flaw that reminds me that they are human. If I want to see superheroes, I'll watch Iron Man, 24, or a Harry Potter movie. Even those character have problems, and they live in the land of make-believe.

Why? Because it's a lot easier to be absorbed by entertainment when the characters are at least plausible. Kids will look over the small detail that Harry Potter flies on broomsticks and has a cloak that makes him invisible if he at least has acne and is awkward around girls. What's the difference between Jack Bauer and John Rambo? Rambo is a mechanical killing machine, Keifer Sutherland is human killing machine who has a daughter that doesn't talk to him and has lost every woman he loves.

America loves a tragic hero. And even more than we love them, we love to forgive them.

Just ask Michael Phelps, who's been all over the headlines lately because someone got a picture of him smoking dope. Oh, the tragedy! How will we move on? We'll manage. Remember when an underage Phelps plead guilty to drunk driving little more than four years ago? Don't worry, most people don't remember it. It fell out of our collective conscience faster than George W. Bush.

We don't want a world that isn't shocked by a Christian Bale outburst, but a little bit of Tom Cruise jumping on a couch seems to be good for our collective psyche. It makes us remember that the people we pay far too much attention to are still really human. It allows us to remember, if even for a fleeting moment, that they're really no different than you or I.

Apart from the paycheck, ego and attitude, maybe.

People act surprised when I say that Joe DiMaggio is my favorite baseball player. So what if I never physically got to see him play? My wife's favorite bands are the Beatles and Queen, and she's never seen either of them perform live.

I loathe the Boston Red Sox, but love Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk and Carl Yastrzemski. How? Because when I grew up, not so long ago and in a galaxy not so far away, baseball was a different game. It was a game where players actually meant something more than a line of fantasy statistics.

Graig Nettles had a lifetime batting average of .248 and is still one of the greatest Yankees ever. Nobody cared that Thurman Munson was the captain, but not a media darling. And Reggie Jackson wasn't afraid of being the straw that stirred the drink, because he wasn't worried about endorsement deals.

Everybody wrote a book, and nobody cared. You didn't have to talk about "the sanctity of the clubhouse," because nobody in said clubhouse was delusional enough to think their "sanctity" was that important. When did Major League Baseball become the Roman Catholic Church?

If Major League Baseball honestly expected fans to believe that their drug-testing policy was going to rid the game of a problem that they claimed to know nothing about, then they truly believe us to be one dumb breed. Maybe we weren't all members of the National Honor Society, but that doesn't mean we still don't read a book or two. Some with words, even.

Are we really supposed to buy the idea that the only players doing steroids are the ones that get caught? It's convenient to pretend that the only people taking them are the players that sit on the bench, because they're looking for that extra something to get them in the lineup... Until we hear that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire got caught. So now we know the guys on the top did them. It only makes sense, then, that the guys in between might, too. Right? Or is it just more convenient to stop making sense?

Major League Baseball enacted their mandatory random drug testing program in 2004, after an anonymous sampling in 2003 resulted in at least five percent positive results. That means we know that at least five out of every hundred guys were doing steroids at the time of the test (A-Rod being one of them). That's one of twenty. Or, more concisely, more than one player per active roster. My guess? It probably wouldn't be a stretch to say that there were at least a handful of guys doping in every team's dugout.

I see your five percent, Major League Baseball, and raise you to 15 percent. And I bet I'm still low. Would it be that surprising to find that one in every five players used steroids at one point or another in the late '90s and shortly thereafter?

Don't forget, MLB never released the results of their tests, they only stated that it was a number "greater than five percent."

The real "breaking news" to me isn't that A-Rod did steroids, it is the allegations buried paragraphs into the story that he was tipped to when his "random" tests would be the following year.

In other words, its okay for Jorge Piedra to take a random test, but the players union will warn poster boy Alex Rodriguez in advance.

I still love the game of baseball as much as I did as a kid, but now I love it for different reasons. I love the game, not the players. I love the chess match on the base paths, it doesn't matter which pawn it is trying to steal. And I love a home run more than the next guy, regardless of where it comes in the batting order.

Baseball is a great game, and it is played by great athletes. But being a great athlete doesn't make you a great person.

The great Alex Rodriguez - A-Roid, as he will be known from this day forward - taught us that today.

We were also taught that as great as the game of baseball may be, it will never be as great as it once was.

Manny Smells Green, Not Dodger Blue

I have no problem with professional athletes making obscene amounts of money.

They are the top of the talent bracket in their given profession. No, they're not surgeons, teachers or world leaders, but if you're going to criticize an athlete for making $20 million a year, you also better criticize the highest paid actors, musicians and other entertainers.

And if you're going to criticize entertainers, don't be a hypocrite - stop watching sports, television and movies, and make sure you don't listen to any music... Good luck with that.

If a professional baseball player makes an absurd salary demand and an owner bites, all the power to the player. Like musicians and actors, their value is dictated by the market, and until there's a system in place to better contain baseball's open market (ie, a hard salary cap) stars have every right to play the system for as much money as they can.

Manny Ramirez and his agent Scott Boras have been playing the Dodgers since the end of last season. So what do they do when the Dodgers finally bite, offering Ramirez a one-year contract worth $25 million? They turn the Dodgers down.

Now I have a problem with Manny Ramirez.

The Man-Ram wants a guaranteed four or five year contract worth $25 million a year. He's one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game, but turning 37 in May, he's entering the twilight of his career. He's also got a reputation for only playing hard when he wants to, and sulking, moping and pouting just as hard.

We've all read about how well that goes over in a locker room - and if we haven't read it yet, we can in Joe Torre's book, "The Yankees Years," which came out today.

Maybe the problem isn't the money for Manny, it's Joe Torre. Knowing that Torre, now in his second year as Dodgers manager after 12 years in the Bronx, has such a flair for writing, maybe Manny's afraid that a one-year contract coupled with another Torre tell-all could dampen his future contract talks.

Not likely, I know.

The fact of the matter is, Manny Ramirez changed Dodger baseball. Before him, the city had so little allegiance to its Dodgers that the Anaheim Angels were able to waltz right up and change their name to the Los Angeles Angels. It's 40 miles from Anaheim to Los Angeles. That's two hours in typical 405 traffic. If you're lucky.

But when Manny came here, he gave the city's abundant Latin population a hero to rally behind. Families of 14 now had a reason to come to the ballpark, and even transplanted baseball fans like myself now had a reason to more aggressively cheer for their new hometown team. With Manny in the lineup, the Dodgers not only had a bona-fide bat as the heart of their order, but the owners also demonstrated that they have a will to win.

The Dodgers offered Manny a three year, $45 million contract in November, and the offer was ignored. Yes, ignored. (Hey Boras, did you check your spam folder?) Then the team offered him salary arbitration, and that was declined. So now they offer a one year, $25 million contract that will make Ramirez the highest paid outfielder in the history of baseball, and the second highest salary in baseball this season, behind only Alex Rodriquez.

And he turned it down faster than most of us could brew our morning coffee.

Los Angeles has a county-wide unemployment rate that is flirting with 15-percent, and the nation is an economic free fall. And Manny turns down a guaranteed $25 million because he wants a longer contract?

Here's a thought, how about earning your $25 million this year, then re-signing for the same amount next year? What's the worst that can happen, you might only make $15 million if you have an off season?

Manny Ramirez not only said no to the Los Angeles Dodgers' contract, he also sent a message to Dodgers fans, and baseball in general: The Red Sox were right to dump him when they did. The city he's playing in means nothing to him, and the money only means something if it is guaranteed til he turns 40.

Motivation? He has none.

That's a Man-Ram no teams needs in the backdoor of their clubhouse.

Welcome to the Dodgers, Adam Dunn, don't forget to send Manny a thank you note.